A Rainy Day
by So then this happened
Summary: Ianto's POV as he and Jack help a frustrated Gwen edit fan fiction. Gwen rants a bit, Jack is quiet but showing a softer side if you look closely, and Ianto muses about life and comfort. One shot.


A quiet and thankfully peaceful day in the Torchwood hub found Gwen sat at her desk, Jack milling about his office, and Ianto making a wonderfully aromatic brew; the pleasant smell pulling an appreciative smile from the young man.

The weather was particularly Welsh that day; wet and bitterly cold. The sort of day which was perfect, absolutely perfect, for a good lie in, a good book, and a warm beverage.

Ianto tried, he honestly did, to get Jack to have a good lie in with him and a good book and tell Gwen to stay home, but the older man was having none of it. Jack did agree to an easy day and a warm beverage though, claiming the lie in would come later with a particularly scandalous wink.

Ianto was lost in thought as he made his way to Gwen with the freshly brewed coffee. As such, he nearly missed her exasperated huff. Just when he was focusing on her a bit more, wondering what caused her to give out such a noise she made a frustrated growl and threw the pages she was reading at the keyboard on her desk in a manner which, if pressed, Ianto would have to describe as disgusted.

Worried, Ianto placed the coffee down beside his teammate and cautiously asked, "Gwen? What is it?"

"Oh it's this bloody story!" Gwen pointed her hands at the pages on her keyboard and Ianto took a closer look at the Welshwoman in front of him.

Her hair was a bit of a mess, as though she had been gripping it in frustration. She had a crinkle in her brow from furrowing them too often. There was a slight downturn to her lips as she had a frown currently etched there. He watched her features explode in a mixture of frustration, annoyance, and exhaustion as she continued her explanation.

"My darling, wonderful, thoughtful husband volunteered me to help edit these stories." The sarcasm was dripping off her tongue. "It's all part of a writing contest Harwoods is somehow helping to sponsor at the local school."

Ianto took a closer look at the pages she had been reading, tentatively picking them up.

"Rhys thinks it will help business and help our chances of having any children we may be having at some distant point in the future get into the school." She finished off with a large sigh reaching for the mug of coffee and curling her hands around the warmth provided by it.

"I take it, it isn't going so well?"

"No! Oh Ianto, it's bloody awful." She stated tiredly and pulled her legs up to get comfortable. "The students were tasked with writing alternate versions, scenes, or complete universes based on the characters and story from one book they all voted on."

Ianto was intrigued. "So, they're supposed to write hidden scenes or backgrounds or completely change the story around for say something like The Great Gatsby." The book came to mind instantly as a story he would have loved to have rewritten at school if given the chance. It was, in his modest opinion, one of the worst books he ever read. "For instance instead of that atrociously depressing ending they would change it so it would work out?"

"Exactly!"

"Ah, and your having a hard time getting past the horrible grammar and sentence structure?" Ianto frowned as he glanced through the pages in his hands, the grammar was terrible and the spelling needing massive amounts of help. He had visions of a red pen making a flurry of notations on the crisp white sheets.

"No, actually. I'm more upset by all the fluff!" Gwen spat through gritted teeth and Ianto sensed he hit on a sore spot but was confused.

"The 'Fluff'?" he asked very cautiously and glanced up slightly to catch Jack's eye. The older man had slowly made his way to the door of his office and was now watching Ianto and Gwen. Belatedly Ianto thought Jack might have just been staring longingly at his now cooling coffee.

"Yes, it's all sugary and sweet and they have their main character's professing their love every other paragraph, piling good news on top of good news with no room to breathe or process things, and honestly have no idea how to structure a plot!" Gwen took a deep sip of her coffee.

Ianto picked up Jack's coffee from the tray and brought it over to the older man, letting his fingers linger slightly longer than necessary. As Jack took the mug Ianto noticed what the captain had been holding in his other hand. Ianto smiled inwardly noting the title and author and had to stop his smile from showing too broadly on his face. Jack had picked a book of poetry which Ianto knew would be read aloud later while the two of them were having their lie in. Though he supposed it couldn't be called a lie in, more like a cuddle. So, Jack had decided to give in to Ianto's earlier requests after all. He sent jack a tender smile before turning back to Gwen's desk to retrieve his own mug.

"I mean, I know I'm no award winning author myself but when I read something I don't want there to be all this confectionary-ness being oozed into my brain. Honestly it's going to give me a cavity!" Gwen continued on her rant.

"I think they just want to see a happy ending Gwen, who wouldn't?" Ianto said with a quiet even voice hoping to calm the agitated woman with his tone as he reached forward and grabbed his mug.

Jack made his way to sit on the sofa and Ianto joined him. Gwen turned in her chair to face them.

"No, I know you're right. It's just that there is so much of it" She said tiredly.

"Better than having anyone die I'd imagine" Ianto though darkly. He'd much rather see his characters live out happy lives in a neat little fantasy than to see them die young. Far too much of that in their lives now as it were.

"True, but that's another thing. If things aren't sugary sweet then they are depressingly dark. These students have some twisted minds! They put their favorite characters into positions I wouldn't wish on my worst enemies. And don't get me started on the characters they don't like! My goodness, they attack them like a pack of vultures"

"Wake"

"What's that?" Gwen blinked and looked at Ianto.

"It's called a wake of vultures. Assuming you're referring to vultures who are currently feeding." The young man explained.

"Right, a wake of vultures then. It really is quite bad at times."

They were all silent for a short while. Ianto pondering what stories he would have rewritten and why it seemed the majority of people either wanted the happiest of endings or the cruelest of plot twists.

He glanced at Jack as the older man drank with reverence and placed the old well worn book on his lap. It had been a book the captain treasured, though most people wouldn't have caught the man's body language whenever he held the book, Ianto never failed to.

Gwen lowered one leg to the floor and used it to swing herself from side to side slightly in the computer chair, a soft squeaking coming from the seat every time she returned to the right.

"What I find the worst though," She continued slowly breaking the silence. "are the stories I actually get involved in, I mean really interested in, but I can't get past the random plot turns and when they brush past perfect places to delve into the character's thoughts and feelings so I can have somewhat of an understanding behind their motives. I can't finish reading some of them; it honestly becomes painful because I really want to know what happens next but just can't bear to read anymore." She finished dejectedly.

Ianto handed over the pages he was still holding to Jack. Gwen let out another annoyed huff

"It's frustrating" she finished and turned her chair to put her elbow on the desk in order to brace her head in her hand.

Ianto noticed the position and realized it must have been the cause for her messy hair. Jack began chuckling softly as he read through the story. The older man's chin pointed upward as he gazed at Gwen "I don't know Gwen, it's not so bad."

"Honestly? How can you say that?"

Jack shrugged with ease "When you read some of the translations I've read in the past of different alien races trying to grasp the English language, you wouldn't think this was so bad either"

"Never thought of it like that" Gwen perked up and looked at Jack with slightly wider eyes. Ianto thought he caught a glimpse of her features saying something along the lines of 'I don't envy you that job'.

"If you're really having that hard a time of it" Ianto began smoothly, "I do happen to know where we keep the red pens"

"We have red pens?" Jack asked surprised

"We have everything" came Ianto's quick reply.

"Are you saying you'll help me edit all these?" Gwen asked hopefully while pointing to the bag under her desk where the remaining stories currently were.

"Why not?" Jack joined in. "I'll even help"

"Do know how to edit a school paper?" Gwen raised her brows in doubt, glancing at Ianto who was wearing a smirk, while she hefted the bag out from under her desk and brought it over to the two men.

"Gwen, I'm from the future, not a different universe." Jack leaned forward to grab a stack of the papers to place in front of him. "Besides" He grinned broadly. "I lived in the past where love letters were never taken seriously unless there was perfect grammar, punctuation, structure, handwriting-" He was cut off

"You wrote love letters? Never took you for the romantic sort Jack" Gwen seemed delightfully surprised at the idea and a soft smile graced her lips as, no doubt she was imagining Jack pouring over some parchment paper with a fountain pen and writing his heart out.

"Well you never took me at all did you?" Jack shot back playfully causing Gwen to redden in embarrassment. He began to divide the stack of stories evenly into three.

"They're just as sappy and romantic as you can imagine Gwen" Ianto reassured her.

"Oh? Has he written you any?" Gwen asked excitedly.

Ianto only winked at her and left her to wonder as he went off to get the pens they would need.

Gwen leaned in to Jack and whispered quietly "Seriously Jack, have you written Ianto any lover letters?" Jack didn't answer. "Do you have any old ones that I can see?" Again Jack didn't answer but he shot her a quick glare as he continued to sort through the paper. She sighed "Oh come on, I'd love to know how you express yourself in written form" She tried one last time to encourage him to share.

Jack reached for the book in his lap and held it front of both their faces, he was about to speak when Ianto came back and announced "Got the pens" in a cheery voice. Jack set the book down on the sofa in the space behind him and Gwen sat back in her chair looking as though her mind was inwardly going a mile a minute and kept trying to glance at the book now hidden.

They settled in soon enough to editing the stories. An occasional huff escaping someone's lips, a few chuckles rumbling from a chest every now and then, and the constant scratching and page turning adding to the normal background humming of the computers and the dripping from the water tower. After a while the near silence was broken.

"Huh" Ianto said as he stared at the page in front of him. He was nearly finished with the story, pen poised to mark the page with needed corrections.

Gwen was bent forward, both elbows resting on her knees holding a new story in her hands and reading it through her fringe. Jack was busy making notations on the story he was reviewing using the coffee table as a desk. They both turned to give Ianto their attention.

"I see what you mean about random plot twists." Ianto spoke almost not wanting to believe it himself.

"What was it?" Jack asked, curious as ever.

"Well" Ianto began while raising his brows "if you can believe this, the two main characters were saved from the tragic ending due to the arrival of a magic wizard, who up until now has never been mentioned I might add, and the lesser of the two main characters is actually also a mystical being and helps save the day in her own way, plus one of the other characters is now randomly a bad guy" He said the last bit with a frown and then added almost to himself, "I liked that character."

"See?!" Gwen exclaimed feeling very vindicated.

"I know what you meant by 'fluff' now too." Jack laughed as he reached into his "finished" pile and pulled out a story flipping to a page somewhere in the first third. "Ah" He said once he found the page he was looking for. "Here, listen to this: 'I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you.'" Jack frowned "Not very eloquent, but that's not the really bad part, the other main character professes their love very similarly and then they propose almost immediately. If that weren't good enough, they find out their expecting a baby through a random plot twist, again almost immediately. On top of that they found a way to avoid the tragic ending and profess their love all over again. Added to that all the characters who had previously died, turned out to not have actually been dead. Then they take the bad guy and give him the worse punishment imaginable. To make it even sweeter, they give the infertile couple a child from the guy's past who randomly showed up, throw a big engagement/baby shower do, and the guy who I like in the story ends up being shoved down a few pegs all because of that one time he thought he was going to kiss the other girl who was in love with the hero." Jack ended his rant with a large exhale and sat back.

Gwen couldn't hold in her laughter any longer, not at the story but at Jack's reaction. "Did I really sound like that earlier?"

"Worse" Ianto nodded.

"Well I won't apologize; it felt good to get it off my chest." She sat up straighter and stretched her back.

Jack fixed his piles of finished and in process stories while Ianto stood to fetch a take away menu. Gwen let out a satisfied noise as she began to stretch her neck.

"Still," Gwen continued "it hasn't been all bad. I do like to see all the different ways one story could possibly go, and I have read a few really great ones now." She seemed to feel bad about how she ranted earlier "and really, even the bad ones aren't all that bad. Like I said before I'm no author myself either. If I were assigned something like this I would have done a horrible job of it." She reached up with a smile at Ianto's return and took the offered beer he held out to her.

"It's considered good by someone out there I'm sure." Ianto said while handing Jack a bottle of water and the menu before reclaiming his seat next to the older man and taking a pull from his own beer.

Jack leaned forward and handed the menu over to Gwen, using the movement to brush his knee against Ianto's. Ianto in turn, ran his hand down Jack's back and allowed it be trapped there, just at the small of the captain's back, when the older man leaned back.

Gwen took the menu and glanced at it briefly before she reached into her back pocket to grab her phone. She stood and began dialing not paying attention to her two coworkers and asked idly "Usual?" as she placed the call and waited for the line to connect.

"Gwen you don't have to do that, I'll-" Ianto began to protest.

"Oh hush" Gwen swatted the idea away with a wave of her hand and walked stiffly over to her desk for her bag. "I need a bit a walk. I'll order it for pick up ya? Give my legs a bit of a stretch. It'll do me some good." She made a point of stretching her limbs some more before the line finally connected allowing her to place their order.

Ianto smiled gratefully at her. It was harder to be both 'the amazing Ianto Jones who gets every tiny detail and supply done and ordered' and also 'field agent Jones' now that it was just the three of them. It had been hard before when he became a field agent and still juggled his duties back at the hub, but it was slightly easier having more hands around to help back then. Now with Tosh and Owen's absence it was nigh impossible to do everything he usually did. He hadn't seen the archives in weeks.

He thought back when Tosh and Owen had been taken from them, to the time that followed. Gwen, Jack, and he had been quiet for the longest time. No one said anything to each other, they just mourned quietly; silent tears escaping every so often.

Ianto fast forwarded through his memories to the time when they had begun to heal. For him, his healing was helped significantly on two separate occasions. The first was about two weeks after they lost their teammates. The mundane jobs around the hub took all of Ianto's time and energy and he liked that. In fact he loved the way it took every ounce of his focus, time, and strength. It allowed for exhaustion to claim him at night so he could avoid thinking. He lost weight, of course he did. Gwen lost a few pounds too.

Jack found him one day cleaning the cell next to Janet's, completely scouring it. Ianto had donned a hazmat suit and made the cell his project. He remembered thinking he wanted it to be so clean he could eat off of it. Not that he would, he wasn't mental after all. Jack found him more than half way through and watched him until he had finished. When Ianto stripped off the hazmat suit Jack had just looked at him. It was an intense stare and Ianto found himself avoiding it. He moved to walk past Jack and was caught by the arm. Jack turned him so they were facing each other and tilted his chin up slightly. That was when he saw the look in Jack's eyes. The same hurt he felt in his own. They didn't speak, they never had too; years of experience with each other and their intimacy leading to them never having to use words to convey a thought, just looks.

Seeing the sadness in Jack's eyes made Ianto begin to cry and he grabbed his captain, roughly pulling him into a tight embrace. Jack immediately held on tightly and shoved his face into the crook of Ianto's neck. The two men sobbed together and held onto to each other for dear life. The minutes passed in a fog, neither knowing how long they had been wrapped in the other's arms. When they pulled away it was to share a long comforting kiss. They breathed deeply made their way back to the main part of the hub.

The shared mourning made Ianto feel so much better. It reminded him he wasn't alone, they could share the pain and loss. Sharing it lightened the amount of it and knowing he had Jack grounded him. He supposed it was the same reason Jack came to find him in the lower level, the older man needed him as much as he was need by Ianto. By the time they had reached the main part of the hub Ianto was starving. Jack took him out for a simple dinner followed by some retail therapy; Jack bought him a new suit and Ianto bought Jack some rather decadent bed sheets. It had helped lighten his heart and Ianto felt well on the way to recovery.

The second moment that helped Ianto was far less emotional; it was something simple and rather mundane. He had been trying to do everything; all the supply ordering, all the paperwork, all the cleaning, not to mention the research into potential alien sightings, the upkeep of the computer main frame, the dry cleaning and food shopping. He did it all and more. And he did it while dealing with the pain of loss.

He had been running around ragged that day and was so exhausted he was about to collapse but there were still loads of things to do. He stood over the small sink in the kitchen area ready to tackle to dirty dishes that had piled up when suddenly, Gwen's hand was on his upper arm. She silently took the sponge from his hand with a sad and sympathetic smile on her face and began washing the dishes. Ianto's heart felt like it would burst from appreciation. He had been so relieved and thankful that the weight of the world seemed to be lifted from his shoulders. Gwen was there with him, she came in and helped, he wouldn't have to face this alone. That was the moment his body finally won and he crashed on the sofa. When he had awoken it was as though he slept off days of exertion. A fresh cup of coffee was waiting for him and the hub was tidier than when he fell asleep.

It was those two moments that were significant in helping him heal. This moment when Gwen took charge of ordering the food reminded him and he looked to the memories with fondness.

He felt Jack's hand on his knee giving him a light squeeze and bringing him back to the present.

"Hey," Jack's voice was tinged with worry. "Are you ok?" he asked while looking at Ianto's face with curiosity and worry.

"Ya" Ianto answered with completely honesty. "I'm fine. Just thinking about a few things." He caught the flash of worry in Jack's eyes so quickly added "nice things" with a nod in order to assure the older man.

Gwen left with a flash of her coat and a shouted "be back in a few" thrown over her shoulder as she bounded out of the hub.

Jack grabbed the book from behind him and then repositioned himself on the sofa. He was now lying on his back, his head in Ianto's lap and his legs draped over the arm. He opened the book and perused the index.

Ianto adored when Jack did things like this. He gently carded his fingers through the older man's hair. He placed his other hand on Jack's chest and lightly stroked his fingers over the fabric of the shirt. He gazed at Jack while the captain read out from the book and soaked up every word, emotion, and meaning.

Thinking about the stories they were reading and editing to help Gwen, Ianto found himself smiling. These students were taking the time and the effort to share a bit of their imagination, their emotions, their personalities even. These young authors were taking their first steps at writing, or maybe they were practiced authors who were flexing their talent, or perhaps they were writing because they felt they simply had to. After all, it was a voluntary assignment for extra marks.

Ianto let his thoughts wander as he kept stroking Jack's silky hair. He admired them; the students. Sure, some people wanted complicated lives filled with excitement, adventure, and near death experiences but, some people wanted to simply live a long and boring life with someone they love, others still just wanted a life that they could live with.

A small smile played on his lips as Jack began reciting again. This wasn't how he thought his day would go but, like the stories he was editing, life was rarely simple and sometimes random plot twists did happen. He lost himself in the feel of Jack on his lap, in the older man's voice, in the words he was saying, and felt himself melt into the sofa. Sometimes fluff happened as well.

He sighed. It was a perfect rainy day.


End file.
